1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of food dispensing and feeding devices. More specifically the present invention relates to a baby food feeder for delivering measured quantities of flowable food into the mouth of a baby or incapacitated person, the food being either semi-solid or liquid. The feeder includes a feeder body which in turn includes a cylindrical food chamber having a tubular chamber side wall, a chamber proximal end wall with a rod passing port and a chamber distal end wall with a food dispensing port encircle by a distally protruding nipple, and includes a piston slidably and sealingly mounted within the chamber side wall and a ratchet rod slidably extending through the chamber rod passing port, the ratchet rod having a rod distal end connected to the piston and having a rod proximal end protruding rearwardly from the chamber distal end wall, and a series of ratchet notches extending longitudinally along one side of the ratchet rod, a notch engaging ratchet mechanism, and a gripping handle extending radially from the feeder body. A method is also provided, including the steps of placing flowable food into the chamber, placing the nipple into the mouth of a receiving person, and squeezing the trigger to advance the flowable food distally within the chamber so that quantity of the flowable food is discharged into the mouth of the receiving person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been hand held dispensers for various flowable substances. Sherbondy, U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,692, issued on Apr. 24, 1953, discloses a kitchen utensil in the form of a pastry dispensing device including a tubular member or barrel adapted to contain a quantity of pastry material, a nozzle at one end of the tubular member, and a piston within the tubular member which is movable in steps to eject a desired quantity of the pastry material which is manually operated by moving a trigger.
Sjoblom, U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,881, issued on Mar. 2, 1954, teaches a dispensing device for dispensing batter and the like, including a cylinder for retaining the batter, a piston within the cylinder for driving the batter out of the cylinder through a dispensing port, a ratchet rod extending axially into the cylinder and engaging the piston to drive the piston toward the dispensing port, and ratchet rod driving trigger means. The ratchet rod has two opposing longitudinal series of ratchet engaging notches with mutually different pitches so that it is possible, using one or the other of them and by changing the dispensing port mounted pieces and dies, to vary the shape, size and thickness of batter deposited and thus of the cookies produced.
Elliot, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,985, issued on Feb. 22, 2000, reveals a food dispensing gun including a tube holding a quantity of an extrudable food product, a piston sealingly engaged with an interior of the tube, a rod coupled to the piston and an incremental dispenser engaged with the rod and the tube. The incremental dispenser includes a trigger or an advancement lever operable to move the rod in a first direction relative to the incremental dispenser in response to the trigger and a retrograde lock operable to prevent the rod from moving in a second direction, wherein the advancement lever and the retrograde lock are completely enclosed by a housing of the incremental dispenser.
Harrold, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,285, issued Dec. 13, 1994, discloses a vertical ratchet dispenser of gel-like material with a hinged trigger. Harrold, et al., is stated to include a unique ratcheting arrangement which functions in combination with a hinged trigger and dispenses material through a manifold component. Umetsu, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,740, issued on Dec. 27, 1994, teaches a manual dispenser for dispensing predetermined amounts of viscous material through actuation of a trigger.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a feeder and method which one person can use to dispense measured quantities of flowable food directly into the mouth of another, receiving person with virtually no spillage.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a feeder which is ergonomically designed to be comfortable to hold and easy to use.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a feeder which can be opened and cleaned with minimal effort.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a feeder which is simple, reliable and economical to manufacture.
The present invention accomplishes the above-stated objectives, as well as others, as may be determined by a fair reading and interpretation of the entire specification.
A feeder is provided for delivering quantities of flowable food into the mouth of a person, including a feeder body having a cylindrical food chamber with a tubular chamber side wall, a chamber distal end wall with a food dispensing port encircled by a distally protruding nipple and a chamber proximal end wall with a chamber rod passing port; a piston slidably mounted within the chamber side wall and a ratchet rod slidably extending through the chamber rod passing port, the ratchet rod having a rod distal end connected to the piston and having a rod proximal end protruding rearwardly from the chamber distal end wall, the ratchet rod having a series of ratchet notches extending longitudinally along one side of the ratchet rod; and a notch engaging ratchet mechanism for advancing the ratchet rod distally.
The feeder preferably additionally includes a gripping handle extending from the feeder body. The feeder body preferably includes a support tube secured to the chamber proximal wall, substantially co-axial with the chamber side wall and extending rearwardly and having a support tube proximal end wall with a proximal feeder body rod passing port through which the ratchet rod extends.
The notch engaging ratchet mechanism preferably includes a pair of carriage guide rails extending rearwardly from the chamber proximal end wall; a ratchet carriage having a carriage rod port slidably mounted around the ratchet rod and having two guide rail ports slidably mounted around the carriage guide rails, the carriage having a notch engaging mechanism and a radially protruding trigger abutment flange; a carriage spring encircling the ratchet rod between the chamber proximal end wall and the carriage biasing the carriage rearwardly; a trigger port in the support tube and a trigger passing through the trigger port and pivotally secured to the support tube, the trigger having a trigger exterior end and a trigger interior end, the trigger exterior end extending radially outward from the support tube, and the trigger interior end abutting the proximal end of the trigger abutment flange; so that squeezing the trigger exterior end rearwardly pivots the trigger interior end forwardly, so that the trigger interior end bears against and slides the carriage abutment flange and the carriage forwardly against biasing of the carriage spring, and the carriage engages one of the notches in the ratchet rod, advancing the ratchet rod, the piston and the baby food forwardly, driving a certain quantity of the food out of the chamber through the food dispensing port and the nipple.
The notches in the ratchet rod preferably each have a radial forward notch segment and a rearwardly sloping rearward notch segment. The gripping handle preferably extends from the support tube.
The feeder preferably additionally includes a pawl structure for engaging the notch in the ratchet rod and thereby preventing the ratchet rod from sliding rearwardly. The pawl structure preferably is positioned adjacent to the proximal feeder body rod passing port inside the support tube, the pawl structure including an L-shaped pawl plate having one plate pawl leg slidably extending toward and biased into contact with the ratchet rod to slide into any registering notch in the ratchet rod, and having another pawl plate leg extending rearwardly through a pawl slot in the chamber proximal end wall to slidably mount the panel plate; and a pawl biasing spring biasing the pawl plate toward the ratchet rod.
The ratchet rod proximal end preferably includes a gripping knob for a user to grip by hand to pull the ratchet rod rearwardly. The ratchet rod preferably is rotatable about its longitudinal axis so that the notches are oriented away from and are no longer engaged by the pawl plate and the carriage, so that the rod may be pulled rearwardly and then the ratchet rod may be rotated so that the pawl plate and carriage once again engage the notches, and subsequently may be ratcheted forward.
The chamber preferably includes a forward chamber portion and a rearward chamber portion which are separable to provide access into the chamber for filling the chamber with food and for cleaning and maintenance of the chamber. The forward chamber portion has forward chamber portion internal threads and the rearward chamber portion has rearward chamber portion external threads, so that the forward chamber portion internal threads screw into the rearward chamber portion external threads. The feeder body, piston and ratchet rod optionally are formed of one of: metal and plastic.
A method is provided of delivering flowable food into the mouth of a receiving person, using the above-described feeder, the method including the steps of placing flowable food into the chamber; placing the nipple into the mouth of the receiving person; and squeezing the trigger to advance the flowable food so that a quantity of the flowable food is discharged into the mouth of the receiving person.